Doobies Proud To Be Legendary Indie Band

The Doobie Brothers are one of the many '70s bands out on the road that have embraced releasing their albums independently and calling the shots with their live shows. Guitarist Patrick Simmons told The Las Vegas Review-Journal, that he feels that fans are excited seeing them play their latest material alongside the best loved hits, explaining, "They know the band's not just living off its former glories, but actually trying to achieve and break new ground on stuff. We do this music because we like to play. We have to do things for ourselves, that's just the bottom line. Whether people like it or not it doesn't really matter, because we're gonna do it anyway. It's one of the things you can be self-indulgent about when you're on the road and riding buses every night and putting up with a lot of bad food and stuff. That's the perk for us, that we get to go up there and play a few songs that are out of the norm."

He spoke about the band's critically acclaimed 2010 album, World Gone Crazy, which the Doobies released through the indie label HOR Entertainment: "(They) didn't have huge clout, but they were pretty supportive and had enough resources to get us out of the chute, so to speak. We end up selling 100,000 albums, maybe, but then we sell a lot of downloads of songs."

Guitarist and frontman Tom Johnston maintains that the Doobies aren't in it just for the glory or the money: "We're very fortunate that we're still out here able to be workin' on a regular basis, because people wanna hear us. It's been a long run -- but it doesn't seem like a long run. It seems like it was only yesterday that we started doing this, and we're still out doing it now. But times have changed, and we got to witness it all. And having a good time -- and that's basically why we're still doing it. If we weren't having a good time, I don't think I'd still be doin' this."

The Doobie Brothers tour dates (subject to change):
December 13 - Los Angeles, CA - Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE
December 30 - Coquitlam, BC - Red Robinson Theatre
December 31 - Richmond, BC - River Rock Show Theater
February 24 - Tampa, FL - Giwazi Stage/Busch Gardens - Tampa
February 26 - Hollywood, FL - Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
March 22 - Biloxi, MS - IP Casino, Resort & Spa
March 23 - Bossier City, LA - Horseshoe Bossier Cty-Riverdom
March 24 - Robinsonville, MS - Horseshoe Tunica Casino Hotel - "Bluesville"
March 28 - Rama, Ontario - Casino Rama Entertainment Center
March 29 - Windsor, Ontario - Colosseum at Caesar's Windsor
April 1, 2 - Milwaukee, WI - Potawatomi Bingo Casino
April 3 - Effingham, IL - Effingham Performance Center
April 5 - Mahnomen, MN - Shooting Star Casino
April 6 - Red Wing, MN - Treasure Island Resort & Casino
April 12 - Scottsdale, AZ - Arizona Bike Week
April 13 - Riverside, CA - Fox Performing Arts Center